Angry public shareholders of many companies listed on nonfunctional regional stock exchanges are inundating the market regulator with complaints of getting shortchanged by promoters rushing to buy back the shares.

Hundreds of such companies announced exit offers for public shareholders in the past few weeks, following a regulatory diktat that they either get listed on national-level bourses or delist.

In their complaints to the market regulator Sebi and stock exchanges, shareholders alleged the prices offered by the companies for their stake to be abnormally low. They want the share buyback price to be determined through a transparent process and not solely by the bankers hired by the companies themselves.